Media briefing session at EU Green Week: Biodiversity on the International Agenda

Media advisory  

“Biodiversity: A new beginning for people and nature” 

EU Green Week media programme 

Media briefings, virtual report launch and interview opportunities  

19 & 21 October 2020  

Stark warnings have been issued on the state of global biodiversity during 2020, while COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of our relationship with nature. This online media programme will equip journalists with insights into key policy developments on biodiversity, as well as into next year’s Convention on Biological Diversity’s fifteenth Conference of the Parties – both of which will be key to healing the planet’s web of life.  

Journalists are also invited to dive into the first assessment in 10 years of the health of the Mediterranean region, with a comprehensive analysis of threats to nature, and ways in which countries can respond.  

To view the full EU Green Week programme, click here. 

Monday, 19 October 

Briefing: Investing in Biodiversity for people and nature 

• Time and Date:  19 October 2020, 13:00 – 14:00 CET. 

• Key speakers: Stefan Leiner, Head of Biodiversity Unit European Commission (DG ENV); Nicola Notaro, Head of Nature Protection Unit European Commission (DG ENV); Martin Sneary, Partnerships Director Business for Nature; Representative from Birdlife (TBC). 

Half of global GDP depends on nature. Nature grows and pollinates our food, cleans our air and water, protects our climate, protects us from flooding, provides us with our raw materials for almost all walks of life - it is even a vital source of life-saving medicine. But we’re losing nature at an alarming rate, putting ourselves AND business at risk. 

It doesn’t have to be this way: As we emerge from the pandemic, we have a chance to create a more sustainable economy, one that doesn’t destroy our life support system, but protects, restores and heals it. During three days of virtual discussions, EU Green Week will explore how protecting and restoring nature can stimulate recovery and create jobs, helping us build a society that is healthier and more resilient. 

Join us at this media briefing one day ahead of the official Brussels conference’s start to already find out how strategic investment in nature protection and restoration of floodplains, peatlands and other carbon-rich EU ecosystems can create a triple win for nature, climate and people. How does the new EU Biodiversity Strategy propose to stimulate this? What are the investment needs? How will the EU budget be used to protect and restore nature? Does investing in nature make business sense? 

For more information on the EU Biodiversity Strategy and EC interview requests, please contact: 

Vivian Loonela, Spokesperson for European Green Deal, European Commission, vivian.loonela@ec.europa.eu, +32 2 296 67 12 (phone), +32 460 76 67 12 (mobile)   

Daniela Stoycheva, Press officer for Environment, Maritime affairs and Fisheries, daniela.stoycheva@ec.europa.eu, +32 2 295 36 64 (phone), +32 460 79 50 65 (mobile) 

Wednesday, 21 October 

Report launch: State of the Environment and Development in the Mediterranean   

• Time and Date: 21 October 2020, 12:45 –13:10 CET. 

• Key speakers: Gaetano Leone, Coordinator, Mediterranean Action Plan-Barcelona Convention Secretariat  and François Guerquin, Plan Bleu Director. 

Despite representing less than 1% of the world’s ocean surface, the Mediterranean Sea is home to up to 18% of the planet’s marine species. The decline of Posidonia Oceanica (an endemic seagrass species known as the “lungs of the Mediterranean”), overfishing, non-indigenous species are among the symptoms of environmental degradation. Marine and coastal ecosystems are reeling under pressure from the unsustainable pursuit of economic growth. This pressure is illustrated by the challenges of marine litter, and pollution, and further compounded by the rising impacts of climate change. A United Nations Environment Programme Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) report produced by Plan Bleu, a UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Centre, provides the most comprehensive assessment of the state of the environment and development in the region and includes a set of key messages that can inform an adequate policy response . The report was prepared under the Barcelona Convention, the Contracting Parties of which are 21 Mediterranean countries and the European Union.   

 

Briefing: Biodiversity on the international agenda 

• Time and Date: 21 October 2020, 13.20-14.00 CET. 

• Key speakers: Humberto Delgado Rosa, Director for Natural Capital, DG Environment, European Commission; Carla Montesi, Director Planet and Prosperity DG for International Cooperation and Development, European Commission; Elizabeth Mrema, 

Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat (video message); Susan Gardner, Director, Ecosystems Division; Eric Usher, Head of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative. 

2021 will be a critical year for biodiversity with key international meetings that will set the agenda for the decade ahead, including the 5th session of the UN Environment Assembly, UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) and other multilateral agreements on climate change and pollution. It will also mark the start of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to mobilise unprecedented actions to restore critical ecosystems all across the planet.  

The session will provide insights into the current state of play of negotiations towards a new global biodiversity framework post 2020, and will explore actions as exemplified by the European Green Deal, at international level to address the drivers of biodiversity loss and deliver systemic shifts. The emphasis will be on actions that put nature at the heart of post-pandemic recovery, with specific attention to unlocking the financing.  

For more information, UNEP interview requests, or to receive the Mediterranean report under STRICT EMBARGO prior to the launch (21 October 2020, 12:45 CET), please contact:  

Alejandro Laguna, Regional Communication Officer, UNEP Europe Office, laguna@un.org +41 76 691 08 48 (mobile) 

Alexa Froger, Communication Assistant, UNEP Brussels Office, alexa.froger@un.org +32 2 213 30 59 (Phone)